American Optical Co. Irving View Camera Variation 1.0

American Optical Company

The Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs

Irving View Camera Variation 1.0

Scovill & Adams catalog, 1892, p. 22

6½ x 8½

Label, celluloid, inset into the top of the rear standard: "American Optical Company - New York - The Scovill & Adams Co., New York"

Stamps, rear of camera:
Top, on camera back: "Patd June 21, 1881." (Patent for a plate holder design.)
Middle, on ground glass frame: "Pat'd Feb. 1st, 1881" (Patent for the use of a celluloid focusing screen rather than ground glass. The Irving is the only camera ever manufactured with the celluloid screen.)
Bottom, on ground glass frame: "Amer. Optical Co. - Scovill M'f'g. Co. N.Y.

Manufacturer: American Optical Co. New York, NY factory
Date Introduced: March, 1890 ; Years Manufactured: 1890-c.1900
Construction: bed moves through base to focus via rack and pinion (gears internal to base); single swing; reversing by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; mahogany base; maroon leather bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 4x5; 5x7; 5x8; 6½x8½; 8x10; 10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20; 18x22
Notes:

The Irving is an English Compact-style, like the Albion. There are so far three variations whose design, while essentially the same, have different front standards:

Irving Variation 1.0: This is the Irving as described in the catalogs and pictured in the catalog engravings. It has a front standard made of all mahogany wood, which contains a conventional replaceable lens board. It has a focus knob on the right side of the platform that cranks the movable part of the platform forward and back. One unique feature on which the catalog description dwells is its lightweight celluloid plastic view screen instead of ground glass (advertised as a desirable weight-reducing feature in the catalogs). The ground glass frame is stamped with the Feb. 1, 1881 patent date for the lightweight focusing screen.

Irving Variation 1.2: This variation also has an all wood front standard, but the lens board is not easily removable, as it must slide all the way off. The focus knob is on the left side of the platform rather than the right. Finally, it does not have the light weight celluloid focus screen. That the focus screen was glass at the time of manufacture is indicated by the lack of the patent date stamp that is found in Variation 1.0.

Irving Variation 2.0: This variation has a front standard supported by brass rods, similar to the American Optical Compact View. The focus knob is on the right side of the platform, but it does not have the light weight celluloid focus screen.

All of these variations have the four-spring-type back, that appears to have been introduced about the time of the switch from Scovill Mfg. Co. to The Scovill & Adams Co. in 1889.

The American Optical/Scovill & Adams Co. Four Spring Back
This back consists of a ground glass frame connected to the back of the rear standard using four springs, one in each corner, and each about 2-3 inches long. As One end of each spring is tightly screwed to the rear standard, while the other end applies pressure onto the middle of a hinge made of sheet brass about 2 inches long, which is attached, one end to the ground glass and the other to the rear standard, via round-head wood screws long enough to act as axles. Three of the corners appear as in the left hand photo below. The fourth corner contains the spring, but also an extra bit of hardware attached to the sheet brass that catches in an open position on a post. This is shown in the right hand photo below.

This type back found on a number of cameras in this collection, including: A similar back is found on the 1) Scovill & Adams labeled Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 3, 2) unlabeled Albion Variation 3, 3) American Optical, Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs labeled Compact View Variation 2 or Irving View Variation 2, 4) American Optical, Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs labeled Irving View Variation 1.(known to have been introduced in March, 1892), 5) Scovill & Adams labeled St. Louis View Camera Variation 3, and 6) Star View Camera (introduced 1890) - one example labeled The Scovill & Adams Co., the other example labeled American Optical Co., Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs).

From the example cameras from six models that have four spring backs, we find that all but one camera (and that one is unlabeled and so indeterminate) are labeled and thus can be dated from when The Scovill & Adams Co. were proprietors of the American Optical Co., that is, 1889-c.1899. It would therefore appear that the four spring back was introduced approximately when Scovill Mfg. Co. changed to The Scovill & Adams Co. in 1889. The four spring design was patented in 1889 (granted to Scovill Mfg. Co. (W.H. Fuller, assignor), #407587, 23 Jul 1889), but, unlike most of their patents, the patent information is not stamped into the wood or otherwise appear on cameras using the patent.

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